O&G has a track record with New Milford Hospital. During the last 25 years, the firm has completed some $50 million of work on 13 projects, according to Oneglia.

Those projects included the 17,000-square-foot radiation oncology addition completed in March 1999, the hospital's cardiac catheterization section and the ambulatory surgery additions and renovations.

Mayor Patricia Murphy said she was pleased to hear the contract had been awarded to a local company.

"O&G is a good company," the mayor said. "It has done projects for the town in the past. It's a local company and that means jobs for local people on the project. That and the new emergency room coming makes this all very exciting."

Western Connecticut Health Network officials were not available for comment.

In a February press release, New Milford Hospital officials said the new emergency space would be doubled in size and would include some private rooms, an environmentally friendly design and a rooftop garden. The addition is to be built into a hillside to create a park-like setting.

The 11,000-square-foot addition will be on the west side of the present hospital toward Treadwell Avenue. It was approved March 26 by the New Milford Zoning Commission.